Wide angle lens

[GeckoZ]

Hi I'm not sure If anyone of you encounter bad distortion with some wide angle lens or is it just me.

Recently I've been trying out the canon's 10-22mm wide angle lens which I rented. The problem comes when I'm shooting events, people around the side of the lens were very badly distorted, also the same problem faced with taking group photos. Their figures were really badly distorted.

Does the problem lies with the lens, 10mm focal length, or is it just me?

Do give some recomandation of which wide angle lens is good too!

Thanks for all your help in advance!

 

[Galdor]

I guess most, if not all UWA lenses will give distortion. But this can be corrected via Photoshop.

 

[Kit]

Perspective distortion is inherent in all design for wide angles.

 

[mpenza]

What you're getting is perspective distortion which came about because you're too close to the subjects (which comes about because the ultrawideness of the lens allows you to do so). Step back and zoom in more.

The article below explains in more words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion_(photography)

 

[GeckoZ]

what does UWA stands for?

This photo was taken with 10-22mm @ 10mm. The distortion was really bad. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/3861531782_8a364784cf_b.jpg
Can I solve tt via photoshop? There wasn't much space that I can crop after correcting (if i manage to correct it)...

 

[yhphotography]

Hi GeckoZ,

That is typical behaviour of wide angle lens. That is why people do take into consideration the distortion level before buying the lens.

If the subject is really close to you, you might want to consider changing lens.

Tips: For group shot with wide angle lens, the people at both sides will appear stretched, making them look plump! Try to leave some allowance for cropping if possible or position them further away from the lens~

So the problem lies with of course~ the photographer, knowing the limits of your lens, the pros and cons of it, you will be able to use it better! Try not to always use the 10mm of the lens especially for shooting human subject, architecture is fine, as they are always quite far away from us.


P.S I get that all the time, when my collegues ask me to take photo for them, when i only have the wide angle lens, then my office is so small, the distortion is so great, that the photo look so 2D, and the distortion for this cases are quite hard to correct.

My lens is tamron 10-24mm btw.

Cheers!

 

[GeckoZ]

Also, I came across spherical and perspective distortion (like mpenza mentioned). Are they the same?

 

[Shen siung]

what does UWA stands for?

This photo was taken with 10-22mm @ 10mm. The distortion was really bad. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/3861531782_8a364784cf_b.jpg
Can I solve tt via photoshop? There wasn't much space that I can crop after correcting (if i manage to correct it)...

From my limited knowledge,
to go for easy way to solve the problem in the photo, let yourself further backward / away from the subject. a few steps helps a lot.

UWA = ultra wide angle, usually means focal length below 24 (or 20 mm) (35 mm equivalent)

 

[GeckoZ]

thanks all again for the fast and helpful replies!

so are there any UWA lens out there which are capable to control such distortion at all? like any high-grad UWA in the market??

 

[mpenza]

Also, I came across spherical and perspective distortion (like mpenza mentioned). Are they the same?

They're different. "Spherical" distortion is more due to to the lens design that results in distortion that appears in every picture.

"Perspective" distortion that you got in your picture is simply because you're too close to your subjects. Many people mistook this for a bad lens design or a characteristic of an ultra-wide angle lens.

A lens that is perfect (without any spherical distortion) will capture pictures with perspective distortion if you're too close to the subjects.

 

[mpenza]

There're some software that you could use to correct it: http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/ I've never used it before though but googled and found it.

You'll get the same effect whichever ultra wide-angle lens you use. It's always better to correct it at the source. So when you take group pics, step back and zoom in.

 

[Kit]

"Perspective" distortion that you got in your picture is simply because you're too close to your subjects. Many people mistook this for a bad lens design or a characteristic of an ultra-wide angle lens.

You can reduce the effects of perspective distortion with careful subject placement but it is a characteristic of wide angles.

 

[GeckoZ]

I've tried googling for examples of spherical distortion but couldn't really find any. how different do they look compared to perspective distortion? what are the lens that are known for spherical distrotions??

and thanks for the "step-back-and-zoom-in" tips again!

 

[Kit]

I think you meant curvilinear distortion. Look at the sides, the straight lines are curved towards the edges of the frame. This is called barrel distortion which is common in wide angle lenses. Vice-versa, where straight lines curve inwards towards the centre of the frame, its pin-cushion distortion and is usually associated with longer focal length lenses.

 

[Complex13717421]

If you're looking for a UWA lens with good distortion control, the Tokina 11-16 is good.

For pin cushion and barrel distortion, Photo shop can usually correct it, although for some lens, the distortion is quite unique and might need special software to correct it. On another hand, the distortion is what makes UWA lens attractive to some photographers as they can achieve good effects with them (inclusive of Fisheye).


my personal stand is that UWA is NOT SUITED for formal head on group photographs. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Snoweagle]

Hi I'm not sure If anyone of you encounter bad distortion with some wide angle lens or is it just me.

Recently I've been trying out the canon's 10-22mm wide angle lens which I rented. The problem comes when I'm shooting events, people around the side of the lens were very badly distorted, also the same problem faced with taking group photos. Their figures were really badly distorted.

Does the problem lies with the lens, 10mm focal length, or is it just me?

Do give some recomandation of which wide angle lens is good too!

Thanks for all your help in advance!

All wide or ultra-wide lenses will give u distortion especially when u take pointing at a higher and lower angle, this is the norm as the way its constructed unless u're talking about tilt-shift lenses.